


Three and A Half Stars

by Paladin_Silver



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Chef Hunk, F/M, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Food Critic Keith, Food Critic/Restaurant Owner AU, Intern Pidge, M/M, Possibly Trans female Pidge? Idk yet, Restaurant Owner Lance, Strong Language, side shallura action
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:18:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9686600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paladin_Silver/pseuds/Paladin_Silver
Summary: Lance McClain runs the five star restaurant, Sabor de la Música and get's reviewed by the notorious food critic, Keith Kogane and gets a less than satisfactory review. Because of this, Lance declares war on Keith.





	1. News

Chapter One: News

Lance’s Pov

          Lance was having a busy day, his five star restaurant, Sabor de la Música was packed full of people with reservations. With the smell of spices sweeping in from the kitchen, he himself was getting a tad hungry. The customers were enjoying their food, his chief chef, Hunk was an amazing cook. He knew how to turn the worst disasters caused by some of the newer chefs into culinary masterpieces, he was also Lance’s best friend and roommate. Lance would often help with cooking seeing that he owns the restaurant, and when there wasn’t anything for him to do there he would wait on people; today was one of those days.

    “Young man,” a voice called to him, he turned around and saw an elderly woman. “Yes ma’am?” he asked with a smile as he walked over to her. “I just wanted to say that your food here is delicious.” she informed him with a sweet smile.

    “Thank you, I’ll be sure to tell the chefs in the kitchen.” The tall Cuban said to her with a charming smile; Lance enjoyed when his customers praised the food at his restaurant. It is well known among his employees that Lance is a bit, well no that’d be an understatement, he is a show off. Though he may be a show off he does not take credit for the work that is not his own. Allura, one of his waitresses walked over to him with a smile that said, ‘please help me with those energetic kids over there’. This look is something that has become very familiar to him, luckily Lance knew a few lullabies that could even put a grown adult to sleep.

     “Lance-” Allura said when she was face to face to him.

     “Say no more, I’ve got this.” he turned around and walked over to the piano, politely tapping Sadie, the pianist he had hired, on the shoulder. Sadie stood up wordlessly and walked to the other side of the piano as he took his seat. Lance stretched out his fingers, popping some of them, and began to play a lullaby. A new atmosphere blanketed itself over the restaurant, the laughter and chatter died out around him as people became enchanted by the sweet melody he was playing. Moments later when he finished playing the lullaby, Lance found that everyone was in a calmer state than before. Everyone broke out of their dazed state and clapped, Lance stood and bowed then walked back to his kitchen.

     “Lance, you have a phone call.” Coran, the manager, called to him as he walked out of Lance’s office. The middle aged man had bright copper red hair and an interesting mustache. Lance often thought of the mustache coming alive and hopping off the older man’s face; he chuckled when the image popped into his head.

     “Alright, thanks Coran.” he smiled as he walked into his office, and took his phone call, “Hello, Lance McClain speaking. Who is this?” “Lance, it’s Pidge.” the tomboyish voice sounded through the speaker system on his phone.

    “Heya Pidge! What’s up?” Lance smiled, he was happy to hear the sound of her voice.

    “I have some news…” Lance’s heart dropped a bit, there was a tone in her voice that said whatever this news was, he wouldn’t like it one bit. “Yeah Pidge?” He asked cautiously, Lance heard a sigh over the phone.

     “I know you don’t like food critics but… Shiro is sending Keith Kogane over to your restaurant this week on Friday.” As soon as the restaurant owner heard this he took a moment to try to compose himself, unfortunately for him and everyone else in the building he’s not very good at that. There was a loud “WHAT?” followed by intense screaming in Spanish that was heard from the dining area, everyone turned to look at where the noise was coming from. Lance stormed out of his office and made his way to Coran to inform him of their situation.

    “So a food critic is coming here?” Coran questioned calmly, “What would you like me to have the others do?”

    “Absolutely nothing. No special treatment, it’s going to be a normal day. If he’s going to review Sabor de la Música then he can review it without any special treatment whatsoever.” Lance huffed and Coran raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” “No, but I’m not going to give some stuck up, picky, pencil pusher the treatment everyone else gives him. He’s a normal human being like the rest of us, and the only person who will ever get the special treatment here is Shakira.” Lance said seriously.

    “Or Beyoncé?” Coran interjected.

    “Well of course, Beyoncé is Beyoncé. She’s like the queen.” Lance nodded and felt his mood lighten up a bit. The busy work day continued, Lance insisted that everyone left at closing so they could get enough sleep, it was only him and Hunk. They were stacking the chairs when Lance noticed a concerned look on Hunk’s face.

    “Alright Hunk, what’s wrong?” Lance asked the taller, slightly tanner man next to him. With a sigh, Hunk leaned back on a table. “I dunno man, are you sure about the plan for the food critic?”

     Lance’s nose scrunched up when the words ‘food critic’ entered his ears. “Yes I’m sure if he doesn’t like how I do things or my restaurant he’ll have to deal with it.” he huffed stubbornly. Hunk shrugged but still looked concerned. The two had no idea what they were in for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith’s pov.

       Keith’s day was going pretty well, everything that he needed to get done was done, and that gave him time to himself as he sat in his office. Looking around his office he started to realize that he needed something to do for just a little bit, when there was a knock on his door.

       “Hey Keith, I have a new assignment for you.” Shiro said as he walked in, the man was his boss for the newspaper he worked at; Shiro was tall and shockingly muscular for a man who spent work hours sitting at his desk editing reports from employees; he had a scar across the bridge of his nose and a prosthetic metal arm. On Keith’s first day his friend, Pidge gave him the rundown about everyone in the office and informed him on Shiro’s time as a marine.

       “Okay, what is it?” he asked and looked up at him from his desk, sounding a tad tired.

       “Do you think you could review Sabor de la Música? It’s just down the street.” Both men knew that it was the only restaurant Keith hasn’t reviewed yet. Keith could hear the reluctance in his boss’s voice.

       “Yeah, I could do that. When do you want it done by?” Keith asked with a quirked eyebrow.

        “This Friday. Oh, and my girlfriend works there as a waitress so if you could go a little easy on your review that’d be great.” The food critic had a reputation of giving harsh reports on restaurants, there wasn’t a restaurant that has reached above two stars since he started working for the paper. Keith nodded and said that he’ll see what he can do, and received a look of warning from Shiro. As soon as Keith got out of work he decided to take a quick look at the restaurant he’d be reviewing. After a four minute walk down the street he found himself across the street looking up at the building, lights turned off and the door being locked by a tall brown haired man, or at least he thought, it was difficult to tell what the man looked like when it was so dark outside. Nonetheless the restaurant looked relatively nice from the outside, Keith had a feeling that reviewing this restaurant was going to be fun.

        “Peek-a-boo!” a familiar voice startled him, he turned around and saw a sly looking Pidge smirking up at him, “doing some recon I see?” she tutted, Keith rolled his eyes and smiled back.

        “Shouldn’t you be, oh I don’t know. Getting coffee for your brother?” Pidge frowned and looked up at him with annoyance. “You make it sound like I’m his intern.” “Well you are.” Keith chuckled lightly receiving a punch on the shoulder. The young woman was fun to mess with, when he first met her many people believed her to be a boy, he remembers watching some guy she was hanging out with flip out when he found out. It was clear to Keith that Pidge was a nickname though he never actually learned what her birth-name was. The young woman had light brown hair cut in a bob sort of style, she wore glasses that tended to reflect light, and she was pretty short.

       “So… This is the restaurant you’re going to review?” “Yeah why?” Keith turned to his friend, “Do you want to join me when I go?” Pidge had a habit of trying to go to restaurants with him for the sake of getting free food. “Nah, I’m helping Matt with a project.” She replied, Keith raised an eyebrow. ‘Something is up’ he thought to himself, but he didn't ask. Pidge would eventually tell him, Shiro, or Matt if something is wrong. Shrugging, Keith started to walk down the street with Pidge following close behind him. The two chatted and joked as they walked, the only one who had an idea of what might happen after Keith reviewed Sabor de la Música was Pidge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance’s pov

       Every employee in Sabor de la Música could tell that Lance was on edge, he couldn’t stop fidgeting the entire day. Pidge told him that this food critic would be coming in today. Lance made sure that everything was in order but didn't make too much of a deal like other restaurant owners have, but Lance couldn't help but worry. He had stayed up all night reading through all of Keith's past reviews, and thinking back on them made a knot in his stomach. The only comfort for Lance found was cooking for the time being, it was still rather early in the day. With the sun taking its spot high in the sky, and the chatter of customers enjoying their lunch, the restaurant owner had a strange feeling that he couldn't place. Waving off the foreign emotion, he got back to work, and thought to himself that he would be damned if Sabor de la Música got a rating below four stars.

 


	2. Everyone's A Critic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith finally meet; let's just say that everything goes as expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness thank you all for being so welcoming to me and reading this fanfic! My tumblr is palidanxgreen please DM me if you have ANY suggestions or requests. I would love to have your imput!

   

Lance watched this new customer enter his restaurant, "This can't be him," he thought to himself. The man sitting at a booth wore a red turtle neck motorcycle jacket, jeans, a black t-shirt, and he had a mullet, but sure enough he fit Pidge's description. Allura began to walkover to the table only to be stopped by the look of a skeptical, and frustrated looking Lance.

  "Lance, are you okay?" she asked with concern in her voice. Lance replied back saying that he was okay, even though it was pretty clear that he was far from it. The tall amazonian-like woman raised an eyebrow, and followed his gaze, "Why are you staring at that man in the booth?"

    "That! That mullet-man happens to be my new rival! He's the pencil pusher who is going to write a review of my glorious restaurant!" Lance whisper shouted at her; he was getting more riled by the minute, "Take care of him but don't baby him. Just treat him like you'd treat everyone else." Cracking his knuckles, he stormed into the kitchen to rage cook, the doors slammed behind him drawing the attention of the so called mullet-man.

 

Allura's pov

 

  After watching her boss storm into the kitchen like a child who got his favorite toy taken away from him, Allura walked to the "mullet man's" table. The man looked more like a mechanic than an actual food critic, he wore a red and white jacket, had long hair, and from what she could tell, a pale complexion. Plastering on her famous heart melting smile, she walked over to his table.

  "Hello sir, I'm Allura and I will be your waitress this evening. Would you like to start off with a drink?" Allura's boyfriend had told her on more than one occasion that her smile mixed with her "beautifully charming" voice could melt actual glaciers, she was determined to melt this food critic's skepticism.

  "Hello Allura. I'm Keith Kogane from the Lion And Chronicle newspaper. What would you say is the best drink you have?" Keith asked politely but also with a detached under tone. 

   "Well, in my opinion our best drink to have with any of our entrees is our home made sangria." she cheerfully replied, and watched the man in front of her take notes.

   "Alright then I'll try that." the cold detachment was still there in his voice.

   "Alright then!" her cheerful smile was back at full force, she walked away to get the drink he had ordered. When she returned to his table, that's when things started to get  _interesting._ Shiro had warned her that the food critic he was sending was known to be incredibly harsh, though she was convinced she could handle it, she never accounted for the fact that he would be returning food to the kitchen every five minutes complaining about something.

    "Here sir, chocolate cake on the house." she set the cake down in front of him, only to be told to send it back to the kitchen without even taking a bite of it. Eyebrow twitching, the waitress returned to the kitchen.

     "Lance, he returned your cake."

      "WHAT THE HELL?" the Cuban restaurant owner shouted, "Alright this is the last straw." Outraged, Lance took the plate out of Allura's hand and stormed out of the kitchen.

 

Keith's Pov

    It was needless to say that this restaurant was quite nicer than the past restaurants that Keith has reviewed. Not receiving any special treatment was a plus, the past restaurants were constantly treating him like a king, and he despised it. The raven haired food critic was taking notes, when he was tapped on the shoulder. Looking up, he saw a tall, tanned skin, brown haired, and blue eyed man glaring down at him.

    "Keith Kogane I presume." The mystery man said rather angrily.

    "Can I help you?" Keith asked, confused.

    "Actually, yes. Why the hell would you send a perfectly great piece of cake back to the kitchen without so much as tasting it?" The man asked harshly, Keith quickly figured it out that this was the restaurant owner. 

    "I didn't see the need, your food was satisfactory enough with out the cake. I don't care for cake anyways." He replied calmly, watching as the man's face go from anger to confusion to complete and utter anger.

     "What kind of person doesn't like cake?" Lance shouted; Keith finally remembered the owner's name. This argument went on for another ten minutes until Keith left, as he was walking out the door he thought to himself, 'what a shame, he was cute.'

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance's pov

    "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL-" Lance's shout was cutoff by his roommate's hand, it was exactly a week after the mullet man had reviewed Sabor de la Música. The restaurant owner was  _not_ happy at all, apparently Keith decided to give  _his_ restaurant a three and a half star rating! 'Ugh the nerve!' Lance thought to himself, then a plan started to form in his mind. A sinister smirk spread across his face, successfully scaring the crap out of Hunk.

    "Lance what are you planning?" Hunk asked worriedly.

    "Oh nothing you need to worry about~" Lance said in a sing-songy tone which only worried Hunk more. The look on Lance's face showed that whatever he was planning was both going to get him revenge and his five stars back.


	3. Lance's Plot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance uses his connections to the paper to torment Keith, and Keith gets in trouble at the paper. domestic Shallura and also Lance who goes a little bonkers from no sleep and too much coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for taking the time to read this! it means a lot!
> 
> quick little key for texting.  
> Shiro's texting font is underlined bold  
> Allura's is underlined italic  
> Lances is italic  
> Keith's is italicized bold  
> Hunk's is regular  
> Pidge's is bold
> 
> Oh and also! Allura has his contact as Takashi Shirogane

 

Allura's Pov

       You know, Allura could've dealt with the fact that the restaurant got a three and a half star rating, but waking up to a series of texts from her boss on her day off was a bit irritating.

 

_(received 6:00am) Allura! I need you to do me a favor! can you use your connections to the paper to get Keith to come back here and do another review? I have a few tricks up my sleeve._

 

_(received 6:30am ) Hey are you awake??_

 

_(received 7:00am ) Rise and shine sleepy head!!!_

 

_(sent 7:05am ) Lance. It's my day off._

 

_(received 7:06am ) PLEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSEEEEEEE???????? For me?_

 

_(sent 7:07am ) Fine but on one condition._

 

_(received 7:08am ) ok! what do you want? A raise? Something added to the menu? Another day off?_

 

_(sent 7:08am ) nothing right now, just a favor that you will happily do for me._

 

_(received 7:09) alright..._

 

       Allura smiled and stood up, silently so she wouldn't wake up the sleeping form next to her. She disliked the thought of manipulating her boyfriend, but the thought of changing the review of the waiting staff from a "nice but poorly attentive" to a "is charming and has great attitude and is also very helpful" was enough to at least try to make the food critic return to the restaurant.

           “Good morning princess.” A voice said as the person behind Allura as arms wrapped around her waist, a gentle feather light kiss was planted on her neck.

           “Good morning Takashi.” She giggled and turned around, “Shouldn’t you be at work?” Shiro smiled, and shrugged as he brushed some hair from Allura’s face.

           “I decided to take a day off.” He hummed as he leaned into kiss her cheek.

           “Huh. Okay.” she shrugged and turned around, knowing that a small pout was forming on her boyfriend’s face. Thinking about her promise she made to Lance, she sighed and threw a glance at the newspaper on the table before she went back to cooking. Letting go of Allura, Shiro walked over to the kitchen table, picked up the paper, and read the restaurant review section.

           "I'm sorry Allura, I told him to go easy on you guys." the tone in his voice sounded guilty.

           "It's fine, love. It's just kind of... disappointing." she sighed, "It would've been nice if the restaurant got a four star rating, but I'm sure we'll make it back up to five stars eventually." Shiro was silent for a while, Allura knew that her hidden request had made it through.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Hunk’s Pov.

  


      “Thank you Allura!” Lance said a bit too cheerfully as he finished off his forth cup of coffee. At last now his ingenious plan was in action, _“Goodbye three and a half stars and hello five!”_ he thought to himself, the mischievous grin on his face, though kinda cute, he had that grin on his face for two days now, and it was scaring Hunk.

         “Lance. Are you mentally okay? You’ve had that same weird look on your face since last night, and it’s starting to freak me out.” Hunk asked with a slightly worried look on his face. A cackle escaped lance's lips as he turned around to look at his roommate, efficiently bringing Hunk's concern up to a fear. When Lance gets like this there are two things that happen; 1)  Lance gets into trouble, 2) Lance's schemes get out of hand and get both Hunk and Lance in trouble.

 

(sent 10:00am ) Pidge help. Lance is going insane, and I think that he is too far gone to listen to reason.

 

**(received 10:01am ) Oh no, is he responding to our contingency plan for events like this?**

 

       Hunk looked over at the cup of sleepy-time tea he had set out for Lance, only to find Lance drinking it and becoming increasingly hyperactive.

 

(sent 10:05am ) He drank it but I think it only made it worse, right now he's mumbling about how he's going to "take down that mullet and make him crawl into his restaurant every week just to get a taste of our food."

 

**(received 10:06am ) Oh no. I think it's time to call in the big guns.**

 

(sent 10:06am ) Do you even think he'll be able to calm Lance down?

 

**(received 10:07am) We can only hope.**

 

 

 


End file.
